Some advice on upgrading

[zhynn]

We have a Partner ACS3.0 system, got it off of ebay earlier this year. After a couple late nights with the manual, I got it to work without too many hiccups. It has worked admirably since then, and the only problem is that we have outgrown the voicemail capacity of the Voice Messaging PC Card.

After some research, it looks as though the only way to increase voicemail capacity and features is to get a Partner Messaging Module. I see that the 6.0 and 1.0 are available, and confusingly, it looks as if the 1.0 is more advanced than the 6.0. As well, it seems that both modules require a 2,3, or 6 port pc card which is equal to or more than the cost of the module itself. There are other cards available for the 1.0, but I am not sure if they are required or not.

My questions are as follows:

1) 16 mailboxes to 100 mailboxes seems like a pretty steep jump. Is there some other voicemail solution in the middle?

2) What are the major differences between the 6.0 and 1.0 modules, and do they justify the increased cost?

3) Does the 1.0 unit require 2 PC cards for operation, or just the one port card?

 

[h5n1]

1- you can create up to 200 mailboxes and you have 100 hours of storage time to play with...factors are message size, mailbox size, numbers of messages etc....

2- here are the features available on R6 not on an R1

-administer an extension to be either a mailbox, fax, transfer only , phantom or automated attendant extension
-automatically send a copy of their messages to another mailbox
-change message retrieval order
-preview new messages without changing the message status
-listen to last heard message
-traverse message list backward to listen to previous heard message
-change message status back to new
-speed up or slow down mailbox prompts and messages

3- 1 port card is good enough.....

hope this helps...

 

[TouchToneTommy]

And now Release 7 is out, just installed the first one last Thursday. Additional features include multiple mailboxes can have the same mailbox as their phantom, and an announcement of the mailbox name when using the *2 dial by name directory.

Also requires the R7 GUI if you want to program from the LAN port. Download available on the Avaya support site.

 

[zhynn]

Ok, so I was wrong in thinking that the R1 was more feature rich than R6. I wonder why R1 is typically more expensive?

As far as the ports go, I was thinking I needed more, but maybe I am barking up the wrong tree. In our current setup, the voice mail system can only handle two simultaneous connections. So, if a customer is leaving a message and another employee is listening to their messages, then the voicemail system is inaccessible (to both internal and external requests). This has been a problem, and I thought that having more ports would meant that I could have more simultaneous connections. Am I wrong in thinking this?

 

[Telecomboy]

You are correct. 4-ports would allow 4 calls to be accessing voicemail at the same time (either checking or leaving messages), 6-port would allow 6.

 

[itpphoneguy]

Hi zhynn,
If you are using the autoattendant, I would normally recommend 4 ports. Six if your phones are very busy.
-Chris

 

[zhynn]

thanks everyone for your help. i have one last question, though.

Is this the only option? Is the messaging module the only scaled up alternative to the pc card?

 

[itpphoneguy]

Hi zhynn,
I hate to say it, but yes. Mind you, they pack a lot of power and features in that card.
Any real voicemail will be expensive. Licensing costs you know.
-Chris

 

[ttech]

If you bought the system off of ebay, Why not but a partner Mail VS off of Ebay too It may do what you need